Op-Ed: The U.S.A has Guantanamo Bay, Gitmo, and the U.K. has Yarl's Wood. Think the comparison a step too far - well think again.

Yarl's Wood is a U.K. detention centre for migrants. It is a last step for foreign nationals before their deportation from the United Kingdom and the majority of detainees are females often with children.

That makes it sound like it is a half decent place where you may spend a couple of days at most but it is far from that.

It is back making headlines Wednesday as the country's prisons' watchdog condemns it as a "place of national concern" and reports that conditions have deteriorated.

Located near Milton Ernest in Bedfordshire, England, and operated by the much maligned company Serco, it is one of 13 other centres operating in the country.

Serco are popular with the Tory government and along with G4S are handed contracts in spite of failings and concerns.

A Home Office spokesman said it was "committed to treating all detainees with dignity and respect" reports BBC News but prisons watchdog representative Nick Hardwick, chief prisons inspector said Yarl's Wood is failing "vulnerable" women.

Protests outside of the facility calling for its closure have been ongoing but ignored by the British government.

More than 350 women are languishing in Yarl's Wood as they endure a lengthy process to determine their immigration status. BBC News has some stats from the report;

Mr Hardwick's report suggests that conditions have worsened since inspectors last visited two years ago. More than half of the detainees who were surveyed said they felt unsafe. Mr Hardwick said that while a total of 443 women held at the centre were removed from the UK in the six months before the inspection, just over twice that number were released back to the community.Of the 99 pregnant women who were held at Yarl's Wood last year, only nine were removed. Fifteen detainees had been held for between six months and a year. Four were detained for more than a year, the longest being 17 months.

opened in 2001 at a cost of £100m to hold some foreign nationals who are facing removal from UK

contains secure accommodation for 410 people

burnt down three months after it was opened during protests by detainees

The U.K. Home Office says it is committed to "treating all detainees with dignity and respect" but at time of writing detainees can held for an unspecified period of time without trial.

There are calls for a "strict time limit" on detentions but also calls from human rights organisations that Yarl's Wood and similar centres are closed and immigration disputes are resolved in the community rather than in a 'prison' in all but name.

On the movement to shut down Yarl’s Wood - “Headbutt the bitch, I’d beat her up,” said one Serco guard, caught on camera at the notorious UK immigration removal centre - Open Democracy

Detention centers for migrants in the US suffer from being overcrowded and underfunded. The centers in the US are usually located near the borders. You might remember a year ago when many women and children came here from South America, and as soon as they crossed into the US, they turned themselves in. There were thousands overloading the detention centers. These are not supposed to be jails but rather holding areas until each person could be assessed for asylum or sent back to their country. It's not like Guantanamo where suspected criminals have been held, many without due process.

The larger issue of migrants seems to stressing many countries like Italy where people are leaving Africa to find work.

It's an international crisis and the millions around the world looking to migrate in order to escape war in their own country or find work in another country are stressing the abilities of countries to handle the influx.

Also, governments face push back from voters when scarce economic resources are funneled into helping migrants. It's an incredibly complex problem that is facing many reasonably stable countries.

Reply

Eileen

13/8/2015 02:23:48 am

Thanks Dava

It reminds me of Gitmo as it should not exists in this day age and both places bring shame on our country.

Pregnant women and children awaiting immigration solutions should not be jailed like prisoners and it is also time the British government stopped using SERCO and G45 two companies with bad track records.

Reply

B. McPherson

12/8/2015 10:54:42 am

The human migration that we are seeing is just the tip of the iceberg. Many millions more will be fleeing war, rising seas and rising temperatures. We cannot lock every person up. It is past time to make plans to deal with the people in an orderly and humane manner. The world of 1960 no longer exists.

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